Butte semi-weekly miner. [volume] (Butte, Mont.) 1886-1890, 1887-12-14
A MALICIOUS ISLANDER.

ontbe water supply in this city with al
article yesterday that, in spite Of the spe
cious depreciation Of the "unp!easant duty
it processes to be incumbent On il as u
public journal to perform, shows a viru
lent spitefulness animating it. 1t goes out
OF its way to draw q parallel with a condi.
ton OF affairs in Ottawa. Canada, where
the water supply is drawn from the Ottawa
river ct \ point below where a. creek
emptics into it carrying the offal from
slaughter houses, with the pecessary result
OF communicating the water supplied the
people ard the prevalence of typhoid fever.
It. has the hardihocd to say that in this
there ara conditions similar to those that
surround the new waterworks OF Butte. A
more bareiaced felsehood could not be as.
serted, as every citizen who reads the III
truth we'll knows. The new waterworks do
not derive their supply of water from a
river or creek, but from an underground
source whence the iiimpid fluid rises from a
depth OF twenty-three feet ia al ever
flowing stream. 1t could not do 50 were it
supplied only by drainage IRON the valley
where it il situated. The water would
simply rise to the level OF the surroundings
and remain in the we'll stationary, The
m~nilgnancy ct the assertion that there is
any comparison between the source of SUD.
ply OF Butte and that OF Ottawa is unac-
.countable in a journal that depends for
existence upon the community in which
such an unblushing departure from the
truth can be coolly asserted. Were the
statement made concerning a place that is
not within daily observation OF every resi-
dent OF Butts, its effrontery might hope to
pass current with a few. But when the
facts in the case are known to every indi.
vidua' in the community, it argues a want
OF the most ordinary sense in making au
outrageous assertion that everyons can
disprove with his or her own eyes. To
read the Inter Mountain ono would
be led to believe that Butte
ID worse off than Ottawa. It
states there are now fully
hundred people stricken down. with q
typhoid epidemic in Ottawa the result OF
contamination of it's water by a foul
creek emptying Into the Ottawa river close
to where the water is drawn to supply that
city. Where are the people stricken down
here by a typhoid epidemic traceable to
drinking impure water? The ouiy cases OF
typhoid here are 10 the unclean parts Of
our suburbs, Centerville and WalkeryilIe.
where carelessness of the most ordinary
precautions has caused inany
deaths and will cause many more until
some regard is paid to the dictates OF COM.
mon sense. The city OF Butte. eupplied by
ito water company with water as pure as
any in the country, is in the best OF health.
Tie assertion that the new water supp!v
10 contaminated, not merely by slaughter
house refuse" but in addition by "the re.
mains OF our departed friends and the
poisons which come from mills and smelt.
ers and the drainage OF the city,"
is wilfully and malicious!y untrue
in tho face Of the chemical an.
alysis OF the Council! Committee to the
perfect credibility and accuracy OF which
not a breath OF doubt has been raised.
The water there Analysed was taken right
ut the new works with al the surrounding
conditions o: shelters, graveyard, etc., as.
they have been for years back. They have
been in existence for a length of time suifi.
to make the deleterious prescnce Ct
any contamination they could communal.
:ate present to the fullest extent. Is the
Inter Mountain prepared to deny the &C.
OF the chemical! analysis OF Dr..
Chandler Of New York, dared November
last, and his statement in his communi-
accompanying it that sit is very
and does not show any eyi.
'erce whatever OF contamination" II so,
upon what uor recent CT credible author;.
~? The citizens of Butte ought to thank
he Inter Mountain for the malicious un.
ruth contained in it's issue of yesterday.
l SANDER like this cold-blooded falsehood
bout the drinking water it uses hurts
) town with the same Injurious /
esults as the publication Of
n actual fact like that concerning Ottawa. /!
The inference from the Inter Mountain |
'rticle is that the same condition of affairs
'rsvails here as in Ottawa. Everyone her |
nowst this is untrue. But the untruth ia
lot SO certainly known in the rest of the
territory; wherever the untruth ID read. |